Replace a Rogue Tempest with Cayin CS845A, Ayon Triton 2, Unison Research, or Mastersound?

I had used Rogue Cronus Magnum ii for 6 years and then switched to Line Magnetic 508 about 2 years ago.

LM 508 SET give lot of meat and more bass control and too much fun with tube rolling.

But it will drive your speaker pretty well.


https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/new-line-magnetic-508ia-integrated-amp.542333/page-28

I recently replaced a Rogue Cronus Magnum 1 (KT-120) with the Cayin Audio USA A-88T Mk3. I can tell you that I much prefer the Cayin. While the Rogue is good, the Cayin sounds much better to me. It’s a warmer, fuller, more natural presentation than I was getting from the Rogue. The Cayin is not only better sonically, it feels like a higher quality amp. The build quality is first-rate. I’m not sure I need anything more than the Cayin. I know it’s a different amp than you asked about but I think my experience may have some relevance for you.

If OP is in Korea, then I recommend this dealer to you.

https://www.hifi-amplifiers.com/en/line-magnetic-lm508ia-hifi-805-integrated-vacuum-tube-amplifier-p-871.html

I bought several tubes from him.

He replaced faulty ones quick.

Line Magnetic 508 is a really nice amp clearly another league above Rogue.

The best affordable SET amplifier that I have ever heard was a 32B amp made by Mastersound. For the most part I am not a fan of SETs and find them overly euphonic and very quick to run out of gas even with efficient speakers. These characteristics became very apparent when comparing 3 different 300B SETs with the Atma-sphere 60s using several pairs of speakers including some DeVore O/96s.

Agree with shkong78's recommendation of taking a look at Line Magnetic. I have the LM 518 845 based tube integrated  which is lowered powered than the 508, but it is really nice sounding, especially with a bit of tube rolling,  & very well built. It's 22wpc easily drive  my 97db Daedalus speakers, the 508 I expect would drive your Lawrence speakers.

Line Magnetic or Jadis. Try to listen for yourself if possible. Hard to tell you what you may like. All of your choices are very nice and it will come down to small personal itches that one above the others will scratch!😉

Wow! This is all terribly exciting! I had not really heard about Line Magnetic, but you've all set me off researching and listening through Youtube, and I must say I'm overjoyed at what I'm hearing. Thanks for all the terrific recommendations. Keep them coming.

Has anyone compared the 508 and 219? Which do you think would be the better sounding amplifier?

I agree, tom6897 that ideally direct listening and comparing would be optimal, but it's not always possible. 

shkong78, yes, I'm based in Korea, and I greatly appreciate the links. Thanks for the dealer recommendation. I will strongly consider going that direction.

I believe your speakers will sound best with a solid state amplifier.  I suggest a Yamaha A-S1200

I don't suppose Raven is available in Korea.  Otherwise would be a natural recommendation. https://www.ravenaudio.com/

Nice thing of Line Magnetic 508 is that you can fine tune its sound through tube rolling.

Using pair of 805, 300B, 6sn7 and one 6sl7 tube, it is a dream amp for tube roller.

I had spent more money on tubes than amp.

Recently I had done shootout of 6sn7 which cost me 3500$ to amass more Nos tubes.

But now I have excellent collection of 6sn7 tubes.

I take turns at different 6sn7 tubes depending on music or my mood.

Apparently, hifi-amplifiers.com is not a legitimate dealer of Line Magnetic equipment. You can see so here:

http://en.lm-audio.com/service/i=8&comContentId=8.html

If there is Korean authorized dealer for Line Magnetic, then you  can contact him to give chance for home audition.

It would be better than blind shopping.

Line Magnetic 805 or 508 with stock tubes sound fine although it improve further after tube rolling.

For the sake of posterity, here is a Line Magnetics 501IA driving a pair of Lawrence Audio Cello speakers, the entry level floorstanders:

https://youtu.be/fixfuwyt--g

I just wanted to follow up on this thread. I recently purchased and received the Line Magnetic 805ia integrated amplifier, the Singapore Edition, from Robert Lai of Live Acoustics in Singapore. Robert’s prices are extraordinarily good, and unlike the local distributor, Robert had the upgraded 805ia instead of the older 508ia. The Singapore version also offers some improved parts, including caps and perhaps a different tube in the center though I’m not entirely sure on that. I had been planning to wait until later to make a purchase, but Robert’s offer was too good to pass up. I highly recommend purchasing from him if you’re inclined. The amplifier has far exceeded my expectations. It’s very much larger than life and is providing exactly the kind of sound I was looking for. It also drives the 88db Lawrence Audio Violins to earthshaking levels. I think even the 845 Line Magnetics would have no difficulty at all at driving these speakers. It’s more power than I need actually and quite a bit more than I had been getting with the Rogue. However, before I made the purchase, I had also made adjustments to the Rogue amp. I added some Tungsol tubes to the preamp stage and swapped in 6550 power tubes for the KT88s I had been using. Those changes provided some significant improvement. However, the biggest change I made was adding a blue Cerious Technologies Graphene Extreme power cable to the amplifier. That pretty much solved all the problems I had been having with that amplifier. I had been using a Shunyata Copperhead, which I thought had done a decent job, but the Cerious completely changed the dynamic. I was no longer having the problem of veiled sound and long warm up. For now, I will keep the Rogue as a back up, but using the Cerious cable with the Line Magnetic is also working out quite well. I would like to thank the posters on this thread for their comments, advice and time. I very much appreciate it. The recommendations have been terrific and I can happily report that having taken one of them, I’ve solved my dilemma. Thank you. I should also thank Bob Grost of Cerious for his superb and affordable power cable and his great communication and assistance. Right now, I’m a very happy man.